Lead Generation and Internet Marketing in Peru

Peru and the Internet

The Republic of Peru is a country located in western South America which has a population of more than 29.5 million. With just over 8 million internet users Peru offers a substantial potential for lead generation and internet marketing companies and entrepreneurs. Search engine market share in Peru is heavily dominated by Google representing 98.02% share of the market while Bing falls far behind in second place with a 1.51% share. Ask Jeeves and Alta Vista both represent less than one percent search engine market share with 0.16% and 0.05% respectively. Social media sites such as Facebook, hi5, twitter and Linkedin are all popular habits of the Peruvian online social networking scene. The average Facebook CPC is amongst the lowest in the world, representing a good opportunity for seasoned internet marketers to use this option in assisting with natural search efforts and to kick-start a Facebook presence.

Social Media Preferences

The online social networking preferences of the Peruvian internet user, is heavily biased towards Facebook which has 6.7 million Peruvian users generating 7.1 billion page views every month. Facebook audience interests are evenly spread across various segments including Urban & Hip-Hop music, Shopping, Films, People & Society and YouTube videos. The largest group of Facebook users in Peru are aged between 18 and 24. Hi5 is second in terms of unique visitors with 2.1 million visitors generating 230 million page views a month. Audience interests on Hi5 are dominated by Friendship and Social Network Apps & Add-ons. Following closely behind are the categories of Music, specifically Raggaeton (Reggae based Latin urban music), Relationships, Romance and Online Video. These social media interest preferences suggest that online dating services that utilize video profiles and incorporate urban music awareness, would receive a ready audience and potentially attract internet advertisers ready to pay for ad placement. Furthermore, lead generation campaigns for the online dating segment of internet marketing in Peru could also be well received by premium dating online services.

Twitter and Linkedin

Twitter and Linkedin tend to reveal a different pattern of usage in Peru even though they are also regarded as types of social media. Twitter has 760 thousand unique visitors every month generating 19 million page views and users tend to spend slightly longer than the worldwide average on twitter (which is 12 minutes 50 seconds) and spend an average of 13 minutes. Twitter is largely used for micro blogging and the most popular user interest segments are Mobile Phones and Computers & Electronics. Linkedin is a social media resource that appears to serve another group or segment of the online community and shows major interests being related to Business Education, Finance, Enterprise Technology, Business & Industrial and Consulting. With 240 thousand unique visitors and 3.4 million page views each month Linkedin appears to be good for reaching those interested in business services and would work well with a lead generation campaign for business directories. Twitter would be an excellent tool for providing mobile phone app downloads that are able to connect users with other social media channels whilst introducing brands.

Huge Growth Expected in Ecommerce

It is reported that Peru accounts for 1.8% of the $21.7 billion ($280 million) generated by ecommerce in Latin America and it is estimated that this figure will increase to around $500 million in 2011. It is also reported that 88% of internet sales in Peru is carried out by debit or credit cards and April 2011 saw 217,000 unique visitors from Peru visit Groupon, a discount coupon website. These activities suggest that the Peruvian internet user has become so familiar and comfortable with online shopping that they are now finding resources to positively affect the prices that they pay online. Internet marketers and tech savvy entrepreneurs could jump on this band wagon by creating discount coupon websites and providing lead generation for sites like Groupon. An internet marketer could look for affiliate opportunities with discount coupon sites in Peru and merge this with online videos virally spread through social media and personal introduction sites. Read more about internet advertising in Peru by visiting the Interactive Advertising Bureau.